Tag Archives: construction

Apartment & townhouse approvals double in January – catch up or over-shoot in supply?

The massive surge in apartment and townhouse approvals in January reported by the ABS today (chart above) is welcome news for the Queensland building industry and people looking to buy or rent an apartment in inner city Brisbane, where much … Continue reading

Posted in Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Qld receiving huge economic shock from resources sector capital spending decline

The scale of the negative economic shock Queensland is currently experiencing from the decline in resources sector investment is extraordinary, as revealed by new ABS data on construction work done released today (see chart above, noting “Engineering” covers the heavy … Continue reading

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Qld Government likely to go into election campaign with weak economy

New ABS data released today show a large drop in engineering construction activity – i.e. the heavy construction activity that has been largely associated with the resources sector in recent years. At the same time as this drop is occurring, … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Builders much more optimistic than current conditions would warrant

Broadly speaking, humans are biased towards being optimistic, and the Master Builders Survey of Industry Conditions for June 2014 is a good example of the optimism bias. Builders across Queensland, and especially in the South-East, are much more optimistic about … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is the Four Pillars’ share of the Queensland economy?

Last week I noted how Nick Behrens of CCIQ made the good point on Steve Austin’s ABC radio show that the Queensland economy is much more than the so-called four pillars of agriculture, construction, resources (i.e. mining) and tourism. In … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Mining, Tourism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Good employment outlook for Qld, but still waiting for strong economic recovery

Steve Austin had a good chat with Nick Behrens from CCIQ yesterday morning on 612 ABC Brisbane, covering the economic outlook for Queensland and the Queensland Plan (What the job market in Queensland will look like in the future). Nick … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Qld residential building recovery due to new apartments and townhouses

After the bad news about the recent slump in consumer confidence – which hopefully is just a short-term post-budget reaction – it’s good to see a recovery in residential building, which the Treasury and RBA are hoping will help drive … Continue reading

Posted in Housing | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Residential building approvals have recovered nicely – but some weakness still in regions

It appears Master Builders Queensland was right to report last month that Queensland builders are optimistic (see my post on the report), with today’s new residential building approvals from the ABS showing a strong upward trend nationally and in Queensland … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NQ and Mackay region builders the least optimistic

I just noticed Master Builders Queensland released its latest survey of industry conditions last week. While it shows a positive outlook on average across all regions, the outlook is only just positive in the North Queensland and Mackay regions (see … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Mining, North Queensland, Townsville | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Good news for Qld building industry as new apartment approvals surge

Conditions will certainly improve in the Queensland building industry over 2014 as residential building approvals continue to recover (see first chart below based on the new ABS data), although we shouldn’t get too excited yet because the recovery appears to … Continue reading

Posted in Housing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments